


Bridging Universes

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri), skipthedemon



Series: Fairytales and Nightmares [15]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossing Timelines, Don’t copy to another site, GFY, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 20:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17107457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skipthedemon/pseuds/skipthedemon
Summary: The Master finds himself translated from one universe to another, without anyone being quite sure how he got there. Least of all his alternate.





	Bridging Universes

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written on IJ, back and forth. It's particularly related to the variant of Morgyn's Fairytales & Nightmares AU as presented in [Five Times Amanda Met Koschei](http://archiveofourown.org/works/118859), and to skipthedemon's Alt!verse in which the Master and the Doctor fought in and ended the Time War together.
> 
> While the story ends without wrapping up all the plot threads, it is as complete as it will get. If we ever revisit this, it would be posted as a separate story.

Koschei leaned against the center console, his eyes closed as he tried to breathe past the sense of loss. Even though he'd had an inkling Solisan wasn't entirely what he'd thought, he'd still not expected her to attack someone he had greeted as a friend. If Amanda had been a second slower...

He shivered, and lifted his head, opening his eyes to look at the center column. "You're happier that she's gone, though, aren't you?" he asked quietly, smiling at his TARDIS. "Wel..."

He cut off as the TARDIS jolted, frowning as he checked the readouts on the monitor nearest him. "What the bloody hell was that, my girl?" There wasn't anything he could see on the monitor... But there was someone else in his console room. "That's not supposed to happen," he said quietly as he turned around, tilting his head curiously.

The Master glanced around, then tilted his head back. "No. It's really not. You're. Not me." He paused. "But maybe you could have been..."

Koschei raised an eyebrow, curious now. "A future regeneration, then? Though perhaps not of me, but of some alternate... which isn't supposed to happen, really." He paused, leaning back against the console. "Not impossible, obviously, but certainly improbable. At least, the chances that we would meet should be so remote as to render them meaningless."

He was entirely aware he was doing a fair impression of Theta's usual defense mechanism, something he thought his friend would find it amusing if he were here. "I don't particularly think our TARDIS have collided, though. Since the Cloister Bell isn't making a racket, anyway."

"If this is real, definitely alternate. I wouldn't have been caught dead with that hair and the beard, no offense. I lost her years ago," the Master added, softly, raising a hand to a wall.

"None taken," Koschei responded amiably, though there was a frown on his face. "And you haven't been back to Gallifrey to replace her?" He patted the console as the TARDIS flickered the lights a moment. "Not that another TARDIS could truly replace her, but a Time Lord isn't entirely whole without one. No matter how much they work at it, no one else has come up with anything quite as elegant or effective."

The Master stared. And stared. Lowered his shields a bit. And slid down to the floor under the influx of mental babble he had almost gotten used to _not_ hearing. He could _hear Gallifrey_.

Koschei moved to catch his alternate as he slid down, staring back a long moment. "Will you be all right?" he asked softly, crouching down to keep a concerned eye on him.

"How?" the Master whispered. "Was there not a war? Daleks. Do you know what a Dalek is?"

He'd bounce in a minute. Once he had some context.

Koschei's expression went cold. "Murdering, single-minded monsters created by a psychotic bastard with delusions of granduer. Of course I know what a Dalek is, I lost the rest of my previous cycle of regenerations and one of this cycle to fighting them." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair a moment, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's... rather a sore subject, the Time Wars. They're over now, and the Daleks are gone, and I hope that the price for their defeat has been paid." A smile twitched at the corners of his lips. "Else, I shall have quite a lot to explain to Lady Romana."

"Time _Wars_. Multiple. And you beat them back." The Master carefully got back to his feet. "We weren't so lucky. We thought we'd tried everything," he said in a low voice.

"Yes." Koschei got up once he was sure the other Time Lord was steady on his feet. "The first one, I'm not sure how Theta brought them to a stand-still, even for as little time as he did. I was rather dead at the time, and Lady Romana won't tell me what happened, only that she never wants to see him like that again."

He leaned against the nearest strut, the lacquer-like material warm against his back. Comforting. "The second one, we drew them into a siege at Arcadia, and imploded a TARDIS - one whose pilot and crew had been slaughtered by the Daleks, nothing left of her but a sense of grief, really.

"She bought us enough time, bought me enough time, to go looking for those Rassilon stole the technology to built the TARDIS from. Stole or bought or traded, I'm not actually entirely certain which it was, even now."

The Master listened carefully, trying to take that all in. "I take it you found them?"

"Yes." Koschei didn't elaborate, his expression distant a moment before a wry smile twisted his lips. "They're not exactly friendly, welcoming people."

He drew in a deep breath, rubbing his hands together a moment. "But I'm safely away from them, and none the worse for wear in the end." He had been, but that had been taken care of, and he _really_ didn't want to get into it. Even if it hadn't been as terrible as the last time he'd gotten rid of those bloody drums.

Well, obviously there was a lot more to that story, but the Master sensed the reluctance to talk about it. Something about the way his alternate kept calling the Doctor "Theta" and Romana seemingly placing a massive amount of trust in him - more than simple desperate hope a madman could save them - prompted him to ask quietly, "Have you ever heard something like drums in your mind?"

Koschei stiffened a moment before closing his eyes. "A century of them, but we got rid of them. A little trouble with those that ended the Time Wars, but _they're gone_ , and I'll be very happy never to hear them again."

He opened his eyes, looking at the other of him. "And you? Have you heard them?"

"Would I have asked if I hadn't?" the Master pointed out, looking shaky again. "They came back?" he asked sharply.

Only a century explained a lot. He could barely process that.

"They were _put_ back." Koschei ran his free hand through his hair. "The Ahrya, the ones Rassilon went and pissed off, however he got the technology, did that to me. The drums are something of theirs, part communication, part weapon, part defense. I think. All I am certain of is that I didn't have problems with them again until I found them."

He reached out to wrap hand around his alternate's shoulder. "They can't get to us here, and I have no intention of ever going back to their home," he added softly, trying to be reassuring.

That **was** reassuring, that their return was artifical. And that this man seemed to think that was where they had come from was fascinating.

"What would have they wanted with us as a child?" the Master asked. "Why send one Time Lord novice sliding into madness? Of course, maybe that wasn't intentional," he mused, with a shake of his head.

"Perhaps not." Koschei shrugged. "I'm not entirely certain what they wanted, then or now. Other than their professed desire not to have the rest of the universe know they exist, not as more than a fairytale, a fragment of story. And it's entirely possible that the first time was unintentional, even if the second time it wasn't."

The Master rubbed at his face. "Right. Did your TARDIS pick up anything when I showed up a few minutes ago? As interesting as this all is, I'd like to get back home."

"I was checking when I noticed you arrived, and all there was was a physical jolt, nothing on any of the various sensors." Koschei waved a hand towards the center console as he made his way to the far side. "If there's nothing there, I can always ask Theta or Torchwood for some assistance getting you back home."

The Master shoved his hands in his pockets and checked he had his screwdriver, cell phone, and Jack's - now his - vortex manipulator. He did. All he needed to get home or get by wherever he ended up if and when he got back to his own universe.

"Sounds like a plan."

Koschei actually doubted there'd be more on the sensors than he'd initially seen - a grand total of nothing, disconcerting as that was - but he checked anyway, because there was always a chance.

"Nothing but an eddy in the Vortex." Koschei raised an eyebrow at that. "An eddy with no apparent source. Hmph." He looked up at the central column, addressing his TARDIS. "That's not very useful, my dear."

"Odd," the Master said frowning. "Well, she can't give you what's not there."

"No." Koschei patted the console, shaking his head a moment. "I was actually headed for Gallifrey before you showed up, you don't mind dropping in there to let Lady Romana know about this before going to commandeer the Rift Torchwood keeps an eye on, do you?"

The Master eyed the other man. "You're on good terms with her? If that's the case, no, I don't mind."

Koschei flicked an eyebrow upward, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Last I knew, I was on very good terms with Lady Romana. Even not being back in the last couple of years shouldn't change it that much." Particularly seeing as most of that was involuntarily, and while following her orders. "I'm more worried about walking out of the TARDIS into a right hook when going to Torchwood."

He moved around the console as he spoke, setting the coordinates and keeping an eye on the flight path as he headed home for the first time since he'd escaped the Ahrya. A flick of a switch, and another quick check of the coordinates, and they were materializing on the balcony of a familiar set of apartments.

"You get along with Romana, but you think the Doctor might punch you?" the Master asked, a little bewildered.

"I get along with Lady Romana, but I think Donna will punch me." Koschei paused with his hand on the door handle. "Theta's more likely to ignore that there are others around, and snog me in public." He looked a bit put-out by that idea - not that the snogging part bothered him so much as the doing so in public.

The Master grinned. "I don't know Donna, although it sounds like I _should_. The rest is about right. After you," he said with a gesture to the door.

Koschei nodded, opening the door and smiling when he met Romana's gaze where she stood in the arch between balcony and the office beyond.

"I was wondering how soon after that mess on Citreen with Amanda you'd show up here." Romana's voice was quiet, the scold hiding an intense relief that she hadn't, in the end, sent him to his death or worse.

Chuckling softly, Koschei took two steps forward, catching both of her hands in his, bringing them to his lips to kiss her knuckles. "I didn't dare come home before, Lady Romana. And I've acquired another interesting conundrum in the meanwhile."

Romana arched an eyebrow, looking past him at the other Time Lord who'd come out of the TARDIS... "Why are there two separate regenerations of yours in the same TARDIS? Much less here on Gallifrey? Koschei!" She gave him a stern glare.

The Master registered the seemingly easy intimacy between the Lady President and Koschei but his response was swept away by the actually seeing Gallifrey through Romana's windows and feeling it's fixedness and power around him.

"The Mountains of Solace and Solitude," he said numbly, stepping twards the windows, staring. "It really is all still here."

"Yes, it all is." Romana's glare faded as she flicked an uneasy look at the Master before raising an eyebrow at hers. "What happened, Koschei?"

"I'm not actually sure, my TARDIS showed nothing but a sourceless eddy in the Vortex before he arrived in my console room." Koschei wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her a step closer to his alternate. "I planned to make use of Torchwood and the Rift in Cardiff to get him home, but I wanted to stop here first."

Romana stepped away from Koschei, reaching out to place a hand on the Master's shoulder, not saying anything more, just waiting for him to speak.

"This isn't my timeline," he murmured. "Defeating the Daleks was a Pyrrhic victory, taking Gallifrey with them. The Doctor and I lived because we were the eye of the storm." He glanced at Romana's hand on his shoulder, vaguely surprised he hadn't immediately jumped under her touch. "You and I were never exactly friends, Lady President," he told her, but with obvious respect.

"I'm sorry." Romana couldn't think of anything else to say to that, nothing that wouldn't sound hollow, or simply not enough. She looked past him to the mountains, a small frown on her face at how close she had come to losing them as irrevocably as she imagined this alternate of Koschei's had.

She chuckled softly. "That is actually more difficult to imagine than Gallifrey being gone. That you and I... were anything less than friends."

"I was more mad than trustworthy for most of my adult life, Romana," the Master sighed. "You brought me back and promised me pardon for my crimes if I fought the Daleks. By the time I wanted to fight for the right reasons, and might have worthy of your trust, there wasn't any time to truly get to know you," he told her, sadly. "Only to honor the memory of the woman who gave me a second chance."

"A very different timeline." Romana gave him a wry smile. "It took watching the Doctor go mad to convince the Council to let me bring Koschei back."

She looked back towards her Koschei, and his carefully studied pretence to not paying attention, and a shiver of fear ran through her. "I don't care to think about what might be if Koschei lost his mind."

"Many terrible things," the Master said darkly. "There is no making up for it, simply refusing to be that person ever again."

"I'm certain of that." Romana pulled away, looking out over the mountains a moment. "I should hope that's what's keeping the Doctor sane, but I don't know for certain."

"Speaking of Theta, you wouldn't happen to know where he is?" Koschei had been paying attention, he just hadn't wanted to interrupt, at least not earlier. He came over, wrapping his arms around Romana's waist again, glad that he had the chance to do so.

"He hasn't been back to Gallifrey since shortly after the Wars ended. And Torchwood hasn't seen him on Earth recently, either. Merely a mention of him in 1941 Cardiff, but nothing to tell us when that was in his personal timeline, other than during his current regeneration."

"Oh, good luck tracking him down," the Master said with a small eye roll. "Sounds like he's running."

Koschei made a face, shaking his head. "He'll come tracking me down when he figures out I'm not dead, but for now... there is no finding him until he wants to be found."

"He doesn't know you're alive? That's not good."

"After the Daleks were gone, the Doctor waited for Koschei to come back. Months." Romana's voice was quiet. "He went to Skaro to see if there was any sign of Koschei there, but there isn't even a Skaro anymore. Just rubble. He cut himself off after that. And that was three years ago."

Koschei frowned. "I know I was cut off for those years I was trapped, but I didn't think Theta would cut himself off so completely. I thought.." He sighed. "I thought I was still being blocked until after running into Amanda on Citreen, and that was why I couldn't sense Theta."

"Ok, that's even more disturbing," the Master said uneasily. "He doesn't do well alone."

"No, he doesn't." Koschei unwrapped himself from around Romana, starting back towards his TARDIS. "You said 1941 Cardiff was the only recent spotting, yes?"

"Yes, but there's no knowing when in his timeline." Romana wrapped a hand around his arm, stopping him, meeting his gaze with a stern expression. "And you weren't mentioned in that archive. You can't go to when and where he was."

"I can go a little later, and I can find out who he was seen with, if anyone was with him. I can find out what happened, why he was there. It's a place to start tracking him from, and I can't just let him be, not if he's alone."

The Master glanced around. "We're off already?"

He a little reluctant to leave again so soon, but he knew he wasn't calling the shots here.

Koschei looked over his shoulder, pausing with his hand on the door of his TARDIS. "I..." He paused, closed his mouth a moment, and then said softly, "We don't have to leave yet. I'm just accustomed to keeping an eye on Theta... I have to. Someone has to."

The Master frowned. "I'm sensing there's something different here. I was more worried about him isolating himseld then someone keeping an eye on him. Let's go, and we'll compare notes."

"That sounds like an idea." Koschei smiled slightly, turning to Romana a moment, reaching for her hand, bringing it to his lips a moment. "I'll be back, as always."

"Oh, go. Make sure the Doctor hasn't done something more stupid than just isolate himself." Romana grinned wryly, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for them to leave. She'd hoped for a longer visit, but the Doctor was always Koschei's first priority, after the universe's continued existence.

The Master shot Romana an apologetic look. "Maybe we'll have a chance to speak again before we find a way to send me back, Romana."

Romana smiled. "If I can convince the Council they can do without me for a few months, I'll be at Torchwood once you find the Doctor. I'm not about to miss out on working on this, even if it means leaving the Council to manage themselves for a while."

The Master surprised himself by saying. "I'd really like that."

"I'm glad." Romana tilted her head towards the TARDIS. "Go on. Koschei's probably getting more worried about the Doctor by the second."

He gave her a warm, warm smile and bolted into the TARDIS.

"First stop, Cardiff, 1941." Koschei had already set the coordinates by the time his alternate came in the door, and was moving back around the console to flip the dematerialization switch. "Whatever reason he was there wasn't enough to make it into the compiled reports from Torchwood when I stopped in during the 1960s, though. Not even a mention of him being there, which is unusual."

"Torchwood keeps that careful a tab on him?" the Master asked, frowning.

"I asked them to let me know when they saw him alone." Koschei looked over at him, no apology in his expression. "They usually don't contact me directly unless they need my assistance with an invasion or epidemic, or the one time Theta went through the archives."

"That sounds almost like they babysit him," the Master said, bewildered.

Koschei chuckled, and shook his head. "They've only spotted him three times in a hundred years, and the one where he went through the archives involved the Slitheen, 10 Downing Street being blown up, and a mutant pig."

"Huh. In my timeline he's their semi-regular science advisor."

"The only people Theta's advised in that capacity were UNIT, in the 1970s. His third regeneration, still my first. He gives whole new meaning to the phrase 'jeopardy friendly'." Koschei wrinkled his nose. "Not my favorite decade, but at least I had a chance to make him learn how to maintain his TARDIS in between saving the world and trying not to regenerate out of sheer frustration."

The Master barked out a laugh. "Really different. He _was_ exiled to 1970s Earth, and I kept coming around playing nasty games. Already mostly out my mind by then."

"I... honestly can't imagine doing that to Theta." Koschei leaned against the central console, a troubled frown on his face. "To hurt him, no. I'm afraid he'd break, and I don't want that."

"Yeah," the Master said softly. "I never thought I **could** break him. Until the war broke him most of the way. And he did come back." He paused. "It sounds like you've been stable and he's. Not."

"Not for over twelve centuries, no," Koschei said quietly. He ran a hand through his hair, then jerked his head towards the arch leading further into the TARDIS. "I could use having a cup of tea for this, would you like one as well?"

"Yes, please." The Master didn't drink tea **often** , but this seemed like one of those occasions. It would settle his nerves.

"What happened 12 centuries ago to damage him so badly?"

Koschei didn't respond until the tea was steeping in his cup, his hands wrapped around it tightly. "We were down by the Lethe. Skipping out on class, and that's probably all anyone else thought it was at first." He paused, licking his lips, staring down into his cup a moment. "We thought we could get the drums out of my head on our own. We didn't need anyone else."

He laughed softly, shaking his head. "We were arrogant and young and stupid. I woke up in time to hear them looking for us. Theta didn't wake up for weeks. I almost lost him."

"Oh," the Master said softly. He shivered.

He often wondered what it would have been like if he'd tried to get rid of the drums before he'd managed to push the Doctor away. Now he knew.

"Yeah." Koschei took a sip of his tea, silent for a long moment. "I can't always take care of him, but I can make sure that there's always someone who can watch out for him. That he always has companions, even if that means sneaking my own onto his TARDIS when he tries to toss everyone off."

The Master shook his head. "That's not. I thought I could handle the drums by _myself_ , and pushed him away for a long time. When I said he's not good on his own. Well, surely you remember. He gets wrapped up in some brilliant idea, forgets to eat and sleep for a bit. People leave and he gets lonely." He paused. "On Skaro they called called him the Oncoming Storm. The Draconians called him the Bringer of Darkness. He's not some frail thing that needed my protection. Stopping when if he ever goes off the skids again, more like."

Koschei nodded. "He can be so brilliant, and forget all about himself. And when that happens in the middle of trying to save the universe, he could very easily get himself killed without someone there to watch his back. To keep him from plunging headlong off a metaphorical cliff, as it were."

He met his alternate's eyes. "His regenerations are painful, and difficult. And he's always had trouble in the first few hours, at least. I don't want to imagine what would happen if he were alone when he regenerated."

"Well, trouble with regeneration is a constant," the Master murmured. "But he always managed when I wasn't around."

Or worse, the Master brought it on him.

"I haven't always been with him, just for most of them. Adric managed him well enough when he regenerated the fourth time. From teeth-and-curls to the pretty blond. And I heard Ace handled his seventh - he showed up about a month later, asking me to travel with him again, though." Koschei tightened his grip on his tea cup. "And his eighth regeneration was at roughly the same time I was exterminated."

"And strangely, I know both those names. Interesting what's parallel," the Master commented. "Do you have milk and sugar?"

"Hmm, I should." Koschei set his cup down to rummage in a lacquered cabinet, pulling out a small jar of milk, and another of honey. "Well, not sugar, but would honey do as a sweetener?" he asked as he turned around. "What were Adric and Ace to you, out of curiosity? Besides companions of Theta's?"

"Honey is fine, thanks." He sighed. "Human children who feared me and were to be used against the Doctor, at the time. They were both brilliant and brave and so **very** alive. That frightened **me**."

"They were, at that." Koschei smiled a bit. "Adric traveled with Romana, Donna, and I after the incident with Queen Victoria that resulted in the founding of Torchwood. I snuck him on board Theta's TARDIS when we ran into him on Traken - Theta was being quite grumpy at the time, and had told me he didn't want me anywhere near him if I insisted on going around with Romana."

He paused, smiling softly. "He's settled into a professorship in the fourty-third century on Earth. And Ace... we lost Ace during the first Time War."

The Master looked surprised. "The Doctor is jealous of you and Romana?"

"Despite the fact that he knows I'll always come back to him, I suspect he is. Either that, or he just can't stand being around Romana, because he certainly isn't jealous of anyone else he thinks I may be sleeping with. None of who I would."

The Master looked, frankly, wierded out. "They were in love. Not neccesarily together all or even a lot of the time. But he loved her until the day he had to kill her along with the rest of our people."

Koschei twitched. "And that's something I don't know that my Theta could do. Romana was the one who had her finger on the trigger for the last-ditch plan we created. The one I knew would carry it out, and wipe our people out of time and space to get rid of the Daleks."

"He could and he did. I'm not saying it didn't damage him. But the Citadel was lost - we couldn't let them take the Eye of Harmony."

"Turned it into a ticking bomb, and detonated it?" Koschei raised an eyebrow, wondering idly if the plan he'd come up with was the same one his alternate had.

The Master nodded grimly.

"Better Gallifrey than the universe." Koschei's tone echoed his alternate's expression, and he reached for his tea again, taking another sip. "You still have each other, though. And that's good."

The Master wrapped his hands around his mug. "Yes. I don't really want to think about what it would be like if only one of us had made it."

"Nothing pretty, I'm sure." Koschei fell silent a moment. "What's Torchwood like in your universe?"

"Large, well funded, and occasionally scary, but I've put a fair amount of effort in the early 21st century to making it accountable to the elected government and concerned with the good of the planet as a whole and less about Britian. Cooperative with UNIT and less xenophobic."

"Mmm. Xenophobic isn't one I'd apply to my Torchwod, but I had rather a liberal hand in the initial stages of its creation." Koschei grinned a little mischeviously. "Queen Victoria was quite clear that she expected I wouldn't run off and leave Torchwood to muddle along on their own, as there was so much out there they wouldn't know how to handle."

He shrugged. "Though accountable and protecting the world, yes. And they can be scary, between my Donna at the helm on a daily basis and Gwen Cooper in Cardiff. They do a very good job at making sure Earth is safe, and visitors don't have unfortunate incidents with conspiracy theorists and mad scientists."

"We ran in to a predestination paradox problem with Torchwood's founding," the Master said with a grin. "Can't go back to certain eras and interact for fear of clueing ourselves in. That's probably the difference."

"Probably." Koschei shrugged, grinning back. "Makes for interesting differences, though." He set his cup down again, tilting his head back towards the control room. "Shall we see what there is to find out about Theta's visit to 1941?"

"Yes. Why _Cardiff_ in 1941? Not ringing any bells," he mused.

London, yes. Big ones. Not Cardiff.

Koschei shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "What would be less surprising in 1941?"

He checked the monitors as he came into the control room, and reached out to adjust a dial quickly before they landed in Cardiff Bay instead of in one of the streets, tucking his TARDIS into an out of the way alley near the docks and the main entrance to Torchwood Cardiff.

"My Doctor picked up a companion in London, 1941. Jack Harkness. Former Time Agent hiding as a fighter pilot."

"Hmm. I might have to check that out, just in case." Koschei patted the console before heading for the door. "Even with divergent timelines, there are bound to be some parallels, and I'd rather not have a Time Agent hanging around London in the 1940s."

There was a flicker of sadness and longing in the Master's expression. "That's probably a good idea."

Pausing at the door, Koschei looked back over his shoulder in time to catch the flicker of expression. He leaned against the door, giving his alternate a considering look a moment.

"December, 1941, we can find out what Theta's doing, and we can check out if there's any pilot by the name of the Time Agent your Theta picked up somewhere. A quick trip to London if nothing else."

The Master smiled. "All right."

"Come on, then." Koschei grinned, and opened the door, stepping out into a cold December night, tilting his head back to look at the stars for a long moment. Took a deep breath, and headed down the docks towards a grimy little door under an equally grimy awning, the sign on the door proclaiming it to be a tourist office, and closed for the forseeable future.

Koschei ignored both, pulling a key out of his pocket to unlock the door, and head towards the back of the dusty little shop, running his fingers over the panels there to find the catch for the second door. The hallway beyond it was cleaner, at least, with a phospherscent glow along the wall about waist-high.

The Master followed quietly, taking in his surroundings, but not having any commentary to give.

They didn't encounter anyone as Koschei led the way through the darkened Hub and down the hall he vaguely recalled as having led to file storage, a fact which slightly disturbed him until he heard the click of a gun cocking.

"Turn and put your hands on the wall where I can see them," a calm, steady voice ordered, and Koschei smiled.

"Harriet," he said as he turned, meeting her gaze steadily. "Director Koschei of Gallifrey, we met in 1915, I had black hair and a goatee, and wore a black suit."

"You know I can't just take your word for it, sir." She raised an eyebrow, flicking her gaze at the wall. "Hands on the wall, please."

The Master had no desire to regenerate for gun shot to soon after getting settled in this body. "I'm with Koschei, obviously," he volunteered. He flicked a questioning gaze over to Koschei.

Koschei sighed, and leaned against the wall, hands flat against it. "They may not be xenophobic, but there are times when they'll be a bit more... paranoid about security than others. I thought I had managed to find one of the times when they really didn't have anyone down here - which wasn't quite my intent, but would have worked."

The Master sighed and put his hand against the wall. "Security in a place like this is a good thing. Just annoying to be on the wrong end of."

It was almost fifteen minutes before a younger woman came into the hall, lugging a cart with a portable scanner and a power cell that looked Gallifreyan in design. It didn't take long to confirm they were both Time Lords, and the same person - well, in so much as they had the same genetic profile.

"Sorry about that, sir, but we've already had one break-in by someone intending to steal some of the information we have in the archives for Hitler and the Germans." Harriet lowered her gun, returning it to the holster at her hip. "What brings you to Torchwood Three?"

"Just checking if you have a report on Theta. Earlier this year, probably, he was supposed to have been here?" Koschei gave her an expectant look, and Harriet smiled slightly, nodding towards the archives.

"If he was here, sir, there will be a report in the drawers. Would you like me to find it for you?"

"We'd appreciate that," the Master told Harriet flashing her her most charming smile.

"Ms. Roberts will show you the meeting room, if you don't mind waiting there." Harriet nodded to the younger woman, who smiled brightly, and waved a little. "It shouldn't take long."

Koschei looked at his alternate, and shrugged, following Ms. Roberts back down the hall and through the hub to a stark room with a large table in the middle.

"Would you like some tea? Well, something herbal that can pass for tea, anyway." Ms. Roberts figited in the doorway, twisting her gloves absently, looking a little odd still wrapped up in the winter coat she'd arrived in.

"I'm fine, Ms. Roberts. Don't trouble yourself on my behalf," the Master told her. "But if you're cold, do use us as an excuse to get a cup."

She smiled gratefully, and vanished off towards the kitchenette, tucking her gloves into the pocket of her coat.

A few minutes later, Harriet walked into the room with a slim folder in her hand, looking at the contents a moment.

"He was here in January, on the twenty-second. He arrived alone, and left in the company of a young Japanese woman with no record of existing, and a Captain Jack Harkness of the 133rd Squadron. Captain Harkness is an American volunteer pilot, we've arranged a letter of condolance to his parents if he doesn't return within the next month."

She set the folder on the table, open to the brief typed report, giving them a polite smile. "Was there anything else you needed from the archives, sirs?"

The Master was puzzled by the mention of parents, but still felt a hopeful and painful flair at Jack's name.

Good on Jack.

"Nothing else, no." Koschei picked up the folder, closing it as he stood up. "I'll take this with me - it doesn't need to make it into the compilation at my next announced visit." He gave Harriet a smile as she gave him a confused look. "I don't need to know then, it's too early in my timeline. Hazards of dealing with a time traveler, Harriet."

"I see. I will... make sure intructions are in place, sir." Harriet looked over at the other man. "Anything you were looking for beyond the report on the Doctor?"

The Master shook his head. "No. That's all we needed right now."

"Good luck, then." Harriet nodded to them as Koschei led the way back out, the folder bending slightly where he was gripping it tightly.

Koschei didn't speak until they were back at the TARDIS, leaning against the console. "He was there, and he didn't leave alone." Relief laced with worry was in his expression as he set the folder with the report on the bench that curved against one railing.

"Do you still want to make that trip to London?" he asked quietly.

The Master hesitated. "That's the right name, but it was an alias..." he trailed off.

"Perhaps Theta picked up the pilot your Jack took the name of?" Koschei flipped open the folder, pulling out a small black-and-white photo. "Does he look like that, your Jack?"

He held out the photo for his alternate to take before going back to the contents of the folder, scanning through the handful of papers, picking out what bits of information he could that might be useful.

"No. Different man." The Master studied the picture."This must be the pilot born with that name, yes. Which means there may still be a Time Agent in London. Maybe under different name. He'll probably be on the look out for time travelers, though."

Koschei raised an eyebrow. "For a reason beside not wanting to have a Time Lord sending him home with a lecture to watch his step and not make a mess?"

"In my timeline, the Agency took two years of him memories. A block hardwired to his central nervous system so deeply even I couldn't get it out without risking damage to him. He wanted to know why."

Frowning deeply, Koschei hissed softly, not liking the sound of that. "Were you ever able to find out what memories they took and why? From the Agency, since they made sure there would be no getting to the memories in him?"

The Master scrubbed at his face. "It's one of those things that seemed less important to him once he had family and a planet to protect, but we meant to get back to. But then he died before we could."

"We'll look at London, then." Koschei made a quick adjustment to the controls, a brief hop through space to London, and set the TARDIS to scan for recent signs of the use of teleport or vortex-manipulation technology.

"If we do find he's here, what do you want to do?" Koschei wouldn't have a problem with taking the Time Agent back to his century - even getting his memories back from the Agency for him if it would help - but he wanted to know if his alternate had anything in mind.

"If he's like my Jack he's a good man on the run. Alone and. Wounded. Obviously, with a hole in his mind like that." The Master paused. "If he decides he can trust us, and we can get his memories back for him, I'd like that. I think it's just as likely he'll want to travel with you or the Doctor once he meets you," he said with a nostalgic smile. "Be warned that he may also try to flirt his way into your pants in no time flat."

Koschei made a small face at that. "Humans are more Theta's kink than mine." He paused, leaning against the railing a moment. "But I may entertain the idea, if he's determined enough," he added with a bit of a smile.

"If he's here, and he's willing to trust us, I'll do whatever I can to get his memories back." Up to and including making the Agency remember why pissing off a Time Lord was generally considered a stupid thing to do unless you had a really good reason.

The Master nodded. "Good," and couldn't help but add, grining wickedly, "In my experience Jack is worth your time, but to each their own."

"I've shared my bed with humans, just usually it involves Theta as well." Koschei shrugged, glancing at the monitor when the TARDIS gave him a mental poke. "Though it might be a longer wait that initially thought. If he's been here, he's covered his tracks very well - there's nothing on the TARDIS's scans."

The Master sighed. "The possibilities are infinite. Nothing of Chula design showing up?"

Koschei refined the search, the scan running quicker. "Nothing." He gave his alternate an apologetic shrug.

He was a bit on the relieved side that there wasn't anything because it meant he didn't have to worry about an ex-Time Agent causing a mess he'd have to clean up. Though there was a sense of disappointment as well - he wanted to meet this human his alternate thought so highly of, and clearly missed.

"If it was running a parallel, we'd have picked that up. He'd have wanted us to. Ok." The Master took a breath and let in out. Let the thought go. "Time to move on. Let's go find the Doctor."

"There are some planets he enjoys going to whenever he can, provided he can avoid crossing his own timeline. Ones he enjoys showing off to new companions when he can - they'll be a good place to start. Besides Earth itself, I mean."

Koschei frowned a little, trying to remember which one Theta had been most excited about in recent memory, at least when they had a chance to travel, and be excited about visiting new planets, rather than trying to save them from the Daleks.

Of course, there was always trying to reach him telepathically - though that would take a fair bit more effort with Theta blocking himself off.

The Master blinked. "I'm trying to remember the last time mine visited the same place twice, besides Earth. I'm not going to be any help here."

"There are a couple Theta likes to visit a bit more. Daegon, any time in the five million years between developing life and humans discovering it exists. Traken, Barcelona. The Library, at least before and after the incident with the Vashta Narada." Koschei fiddled with the controls a moment. "Start with Barcelona?"

The Master stiffened. "Traken. Of course it's still here, too." Then he nodded. "Sure, Barcelona."

Koschei set the coordinates, looking over at his alternate. "Traken hold some bad memories?"

"Me at just about my worst," the Master said, looking Koschei in the eye. A world - literally- of guilt there, but he was refusing to flinch from it.

Koschei met his alternate's gaze, a flicker of compassion going through his expression along with acceptance - no pity and no condemnation. "I don't think it would be the best place for Theta to take a fighter pilot for a first trip, so I don't think we're likely to have to go there. If he's paying any attention at all to where he's taking his new companions."

"No, no soldiers on Traken first stop," the Master agreed. "Barcelona is as good a place to start as any."

"Barcelona or Daegon. That one's a remarkably good place to take soldiers on a first stop." Koschei didn't even bother to bring the TARDIS down to the planet's surface - it was simpler to scan the entire area for any sign of Theta's TARDIS from orbit. "If I find roughly the right temporal coordinates, at least."

The Master cocked his head his alternate. "I don't know much about Daegon. Why is Thete fond of it?"

"Either the wines - which are quite delectable in some of their earlier periods - or the Rings. He insisted on dragging me there one trip, wanting a set to wear for himself." Koschei frowned a moment. "I wonder if they're still where I left them? They would, if nothing else, convince him that I'm really alive and me when we find him. Possibly more so than even telepathic contact."

"I really don't know what's special about rings from Daegon. I take it there's a lot of sentimental attachment to your set."

Koschei gave his alternate a bit of a smile. "Rings, not rings. Collar and cuffs, not very wide, and mostly out of use within three centuries of humanity intermingling with the native culture. Imitations are often merely decorative, but true Rings have a mild telepathic field, tuned for the individual who purchases them. They have various purposes, but they all are permanent unless the person wearing them dies, or the owner of the Rings removes them."

"Theta would know those Rings, and know they're not possible to duplicate, not easily. The secrets are very closely kept by the smiths who make them, and they're not easily bribed. Actually, not bribable at all before humanity arrived on Daegon. And those that were found to be corruptable were executed for it."

"Unique then." The Master glanced over the TARDIS's controls. "Any luck?"

"Not here, no." Koschei grimaced, adjusting the time coordinates, scanning backward and forward in time for any sign of Theta's TARDIS, comparing those with times he already knew Theta had visited. "No recent activity from Theta's TARDIS. Daegon, then, and then I don't know where to go from there if he's not there. There isn't anywhere else he is likely to visit twice, so at least I'll be able to eliminate anywhere he has been."

"We'll catch up with him. I don't know about you, but I always do," the Master said wryly.

"It just takes time." Koschei nodded, echoing his alternate's expression, before changing the coordinates again.

The Master shrugged. "Time, I've got plenty off."

Koschei made a noncommital noise, focusing on the TARDIS controls, bringing them out of the Vortex at a point where he'd have the widest range of time Theta could have visited to scan without taking them further forward or back. It took a bit of fiddling, and dismissing of a couple of time-signatures he could readily identify as times he'd visited with Theta.

"I think he may actually be here." Koschei adjusted coordinates, a quick hop backwards in time to get a better fix on the faint trace, bringing his TARDIS to a rest beside Theta's. "It's certainly not a time I know he's been to here before."

The Master grinned, then sobered. "I was going to suggest we startle the crap out of him together, but if he's not quite stable that may not be a good thing."

"Not the best idea under the circumstances, no." Koschei drew in a deep breath as he headed for the door, looking over his shoulder at his alternate. "On the other hand, the shock might keep him quiet and still long enough to explain things."

"Good point. And he'll get the shock one way or another. Let's go," the Master said, moving towards the door.

Koschei nodded, pushing open the door to reveal bright, almost harsh sunlight, with purple and blue flora around them. The TARDIS had taking the appearence of one of the tall, spiny trees around them, beside an incongruous steel cabinet that was Theta's TARDIS.

"Even with a nominally working chameleon circuit, he still can't get his TARDIS to blend in," murmured Koschei, taking a key out of his pocket that he'd all but clung to for the last two years, a small reminder of Theta. Slipping it into the lock, he opened the door, peering around the control room for his Theta.

Nothing but the blueish light from the central column and random lights set into the Escheresque columns, and the gentle hum of a living TARDIS. "Hmph. He's probably out showing his companions around, pointing out all the interesting flora and what not to get eaten by," he said over his shoulder as he stepped inside, reaching out a mental hand towards the TARDIS.

What he got back was a complex rush of emotion and queary, demand/worry/relief, where/why/Theta alone/stay now. And a mental equivelant of a slap, making him wince as he rubbed a physical hand over the nearest strut.

"I'm back, and I'll explain when Theta gets back here."

"If you got it fixed at all, you're one up on me," The Master said grimacing, "But the opinionatedness is consistant."

"The chameleon circuit should work, but she doesn't always make use of it, I've noticed." Koschei went over to the console, petting the controls when a map of the local area came up, with indications that Theta and his companions - two of them, and the TARDIS fed him images that he'd expected - heading back towards the TARDIS.

Actually, coming back in rather a hurry, with another life-sign trailing behind them...

"Well, at least he's returning." Koschei looked over at his alternate, a faintly amused smile on his face. "Being chased by something, as usual."

"She's been stuck as 1960 British police box practically forever, in my timeline. They both like it that way. So. He'll already be high on adrenalin. Fun."

"Indeed." Koschei turned towards the door, waiting for Theta to come dashing in as he usually did.

He wasn't dissapointed, as a small woman was pushed inside by a taller man who matched the photo of Jack Harkness from the file on Koschei's TARDIS. And behind them, grinning madly, Theta pelted through the doors, slamming them behind him before he even registered the two waiting for him.

His face drained of color, his eyes locked on Koschei's face. "No. No no no no no. You're dead. Aren't you?" He was plastered to the inside of the door, his fingers flexing against it, mental shields slamming higher than they'd already been. He glanced at the other standing there, and started to shake, his head slowly turning from side to side before shaking violently in denial.

"Who are you?" Jack nudged Tosh behind him, manuvering them between the Doctor and the two strangers. Strangers the Doctor certainly appeared to recognize, and at least one that he believed was dead, apparently. "What are you doing here?"

"Friends. Well, he's a friend, and I'm. Close enough," the Master assured them. A little freaked at seeing the Doctor crumple in on himself like that.

"He's the Director of Torchwood, Jack. Koschei of Gallifrey, he's a Time Lord. He's not going to hurt us." Tosh stepped around Jack, looking at the taller man a moment. "You're a Time Lord as well, yes?"

Koschei was glad to see Theta's companions were protective of him, but it stung to see Theta shrink from him. He took a step towards him, wincing when Theta flinched, holding out his hand. "Please, Theta. I'm not dead, I promise. Never was, just trapped and blocked off."

Theta slid along the wall, keeping the distance between him and what he was rapidly coming to the conclusion was something pretending to be his friend. "No. You're not Koschei."

"I'm a Time Lord, yes. Technically the same one from a different universe," the Master answered Tosh. He looked at the Doctor with open worry.

"Oh." Tosh blinked, looking at the alternate Koschei with an intrigued expression. "You must be a later regeneration, though. Well, or maybe one of the earlier ones that the Director never had a chance to use." She glanced down, a bit flustered.

Koschei sat down on the floor, not trying to get closer to Theta, just watching him with a good deal of concern. "I am, Theta. Please, let me in," he pleaded, reaching out a hand, both physical and mental. And really wishing he'd taken the time to find the set of Rings before coming out of the Vortex.

"No." Theta's voice was flat, and he straightened, glaring at the not-Koschei. Yes, that was a good name for it, not-Koschei. He reached into the pocket of his jacket, his fingers closing around the sonic.

Koschei watched Theta's actions, and he had a moment to dive out of the way before the sonic blast could put a hole through his chest, muttering under his breath, "Oh, for the love of Gallifrey." Raising his voice, yelling, "Theta, it's me! Ask your bloody TARDIS!"

The Master automatically tried to herd the humans away from the violent Time Lord and got himself in a defensive position.

He'd needed to defend himself from the Doctor off his rocker before.

Jack moved rapidly at the blast, sweeping Tosh towards the back of the room, in the direction of the door to the rest of the ship. Ignoring her protests that she was capable of protecting herself, knowing he'd promised to get her home safe - and that meant not killed by stray fire.

Theta watched the other one move closer to his companions, the one who'd come with the not-Koschei, and he aimed for him, hesitating only because Jack was still in his line of fire if the other moved. He didn't want to risk his companions, he'd only just gotten them.

Koschei reached out for the TARDIS, since Theta was still blocking him, and asked her help. He didn't expect the shiver and groan of the engines coming to life, or the jolt of a _very_ rough dematerialization. Though neither had Theta, he observed as the sonic was knocked out of his hand, tumbling across the room as the TARDIS played with her internal gravity a moment.

Hurt/annoyance/stupid Time Lords. That came across almost loud enough for the humans to hear it, as the TARDIS resettled the gravity, humming quietly as she floated in the Vortex.

"Theta, please." Koschei tried again, looking across at his friend with a pleading expression. "Please, let me in."

"You two ok?" the Master askes, looking Tosh and Jack over. Not wanting to interfere with Koschei and Theta at all. He figured there was probably a very delicate balance there that he didn't need to go tromping into.

"I will be." Tosh was a bit shaken, and she didn't move from the safety of Jack's arm around her for a long moment. "That's... I..." She shook her head, looking up at the alternate Koschei, giving him a small smile. "I'll be fine, really."

Jack let Tosh go when she pulled away, making sure she was steady on her feet, his other hand still wrapped around the railing. "That was bit unexpected, but I've had worse." He glanced at the tableau across the room a moment, and then looked at Tosh. "You look like you could do with a cup of tea, Miss Sato," he said gently.

"Oh, no, that's... well, it would probably be a good idea, yes." Tosh bit her lip a moment, having followed Jack's gaze. "Leave them to sort things out?"

"Yes. I'll join you," the Master said frowning at his alternate and the Doctor.

Jack nodded, his hand settling automatically in the small of Tosh's back as he escorted her out of the control room, keeping himself between her and the other man as they headed for the kitchen, where Tosh hurried over to the table where she'd left her laptop that morning when the Doctor had suggested their first destination over tea and toast.

He started the kettle, and pulled out tea and coffee, preparing both pots easily. Glancing over at the other man, he nodded to the pots. "Tea or coffee?"

"Hmm. I'm rattled enough tea might be a good idea. Yes, tea, please."

It didn't take long for Jack to set two cups of tea on the table, returning to the counter for his coffee before settling at the table himself. He took a long sip, watching the Time Lord silently for a moment.

"How'd you get to the planet we were on? Daegon, the Doctor said?"

He glanced at Tosh, who nodded absently, already mostly engrossed in whatever she was working on on her laptop. Jack looked back at the Time Lord, waiting for an answer patiently.

"How I got to this universe is still a mystery, but I landed in my counterpart's TARDIS. He's recently escaped from being imprisioned - I don't have all the details there. He wanted to let the Doctor know he was still alive, and I'm along because the Doctor is the most brilliant person I know. Hopefully his brains can help me get back home. Daegon is a favorite travel destination for your Doctor, appearently, so here we came." He glanced at Tosh. "You were right by the way. Koschei's current incarnation was my previous."

Tosh looked up, slightly startled, before smiling at the Master. "Oh. That's good to know." She picked up her tea, sipping at it, watching him over the rim. "I hope you're able to get back to your universe. I mean, it's hard enough being suddenly out of one's own time, but to be in an entirely different universe..." She shook her head. "That has to be disconcerting."

Jack just listened, sipping at his coffee while he processed the information. Adding quietly, "Even if the Doctor can't help, Miss Sato's a brilliant woman herself - she had something to get herself back to her own time without living through the years the slow way, if the Doctor hadn't shown up when he did."

"Oh, it's not really all that brilliant, just a few calculations, that's all. Nothing I could actually do but hope Torchwood actually got them and used them." Tosh bit her lip, looking down at her laptop.

"Don't discount human creativity," the Master told her. "Your native time isn't 1941, then?"

"No." Tosh shook her head, looking at him a moment. "We... Ianto and I... we were investigating reports of strange music coming from an abandoned dance hall. There was Rift activity, but I didn't have a chance to find exactly where with the equipment before I accidentally stepped into the middle of it."

Jack took up the thread of the story when Tosh looked away again, giving her an encouraging smile. "I saw her leave the dance hall, followed her - it's not really safe for a Japanese woman to be alone, not then. It was a bit of a fantastic story, but I gave her my word I'd do my best to get her home safe."

"I had the calculations to open the Rift safely, to get home. I even made sure they were recorded such that Torchwood would be able to find them, but they never used them." Tosh shrugged. "Perhaps because the Doctor showed up, and I'll return home in time to tell them not to worry about it. At least, that's likely, looking at it now."

"Ooh, predestination paradox. Those are always confusing and fun," the Master said lightly. "The Doctor says he's there to take you home and the next thing you know you're running all over creation?" he asked, grinning.

"Well, he did offer a trip before taking me home, so I suppose that this counts." Tosh looked down at her laptop again, a bit of a wistful smile on her face. "I do wish we'd had a chance to see a bit more before going home, but I don't know if that will happen now."

"I'm certainly not the one making the plans right now. I couldn't say."

"Of course." Tosh bit her lip, a bit of a flush coming to her cheeks. "Well, even if we do go straight home, at least I'll have had a chance to see something."

The Master watched her and grinned a bit. "You know, I hope we will. Not being sure if I'll get home isn't pleasant, but. Whole new universe."

Tosh looked at him, startled a moment before she returned his grin with a small smile. "It is, isn't it?" She paused, tilting her head curiously. "How different is it? I mean, theory dictates that there are infinate possiblities, but there's no way to know which ones are more probable unless you can actually establish some sort of contact, some way of measuring the differences."

Jack was mostly listening, not really following all of the conversation - though he was doing a fair job of sorting out what it meant. He just hoped they wouldn't get into any of the physics of it, or he'd really lose the thread of conversation entirely.

The Master went still and solemn for a moment before answering. "It's really different. My alternate's personal timelines and mine seems to have divereged somewhere before we were even fully adults."

His gaze flicked to Jack and his uniform. "There was a war in both timelines. Here, they seem to have won it. With vast causalties, I'm sure. But in my timeline, we lost Gallifrey, to wipe the Daleks out. The Time Lords are all but extinct."

"Daleks?" Jack understood this - war and sacrifice and be willing to lose it all just to stop an enemy. Willing to die to make things safer for others, something he suspected had been the case in the war the alternate spoke of.

The Master's gaze went cold and distant. "There was a world. Skaro. That had two intelligent species roughly like humans, the Kaleds and the Thals. They could both pass as such if they were dropped on Earth. They managed to get to an industrial era side by side without one obliterating the other. Then it became bigger and better bombs, more creative ways to kill each other. One crazed - but brilliant - man took Kaled DNA and created the Daleks. He called them the final stage of evolution of his people. Twisted things that weren't even remotely humanoid, devoid of all emotion except hate. With one over arching imperative - to keep racial purity and wipe out all life not a Dalek."

Jack didn't know how to respond to that, not entirely. "Keeping something like that from spreading across the universe would be worth the cost." No matter how high - because the cost of letting it spread was worse.

The Master refocuses on Jack. "Oh, yes. They developed time travel and almost tore the universe apart. Literally shredding the fabric of the universe like damp paper. The cost was high, but worth it."

"Is the damage repairable?" Tosh looked up from her laptop again, a small frown on her face. Curious more than worried, but a bit of both, really.

"A lot of it," the Master said reassuringly. "Here, there's an entire planet of Time Lords to keep it from unraveling."

"Instead of only you and the Doctor." Jack took a sip of his coffee.

Koschei paused in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the wall a moment, listening and watching. "If it were just myself and Theta here, I'd be worried the universe would unravel before we could get to the problems," he said quietly, stepping into the room, and heading for the tea pot.

The Master looked up at Koschei. "We do what we can. I'll be blunt - we're also quite deliberately grooming humanity to step up and do some of the work, eventually. Get the Time Agency **right**. We hope."

"That would be an accomplishment." Koschei settled at the table, his hands wrapped tightly around a cup of tea. "It takes a complete dismantling of it, and rebuilding of it for them to actually pick up on how to properly travel in time. And a good deal of cleaning up after agents that went rogue after it was shut down."

"Sir, if I could ask... Where's the Doctor?" Tosh looked at Koschei with a faintly apologetic expression on her face.

"Theta's in the Zero Room at the moment, resting. He's been cut off for long enough that opening up is a bit overwhelming. He'll be all right, he just needs some time."

"I can't believe he _did_ that," the Master muttered.

"I still don't know entirely why he did it," Koschei murmured, his fingers tightening around his cup a moment before he took a sip of the tea. "He doesn't do well by himself, and he needs the contact. He knows that, and he deliberately cut himself off..." He shook his head, still not entirely certain himself what Theta had been thinking.

The Master shook his head, "I said I couldn't believe it, in fact it's entirely like him at his worst. Afraid of loosing people he cares about? His instinctive answer is to shut them out and run. Sometimes literally. In my experience."

"Yes.. yes, he will do that sometimes." Koschei snorted softly. "He's never tried to shut out _everyone_ before, though."

"He thought you were dead," the Master said. Obvious. Well, yeah.

"Do you really think that's all there is to it?" Koschei raised an eyebrow, meeting his alternate's gaze a moment before waving a hand dismissively. "No, don't answer that. It doesn't matter at this point why he did, only that he had, and he's not shutting everyone out now."

"Fantastic," the Master said, honestly.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we're going anywhere until he's feeling more stable." Koschei smiled wryly. "His TARDIS locked the controls when I tried to coax her back to Daegon, and she's a stubborn creature at the best of times."

"Yeah, no. We're not going anywhere," the Master said, shaking his head, a little amused.


End file.
